mysqlbinlog

mysqlbinlog is the command-line utility shipped with MySQL for reading and decoding the contents of binary log files. It is the only tool capable of converting the binary format of binlogs into readable output or re-executable SQL statements.

How it works #

mysqlbinlog reads binlog files and produces text-format output. It supports several filters:

• By time range: --start-datetime and --stop-datetime to limit output to a time window
• By database: --database to filter events for a specific database
• By position: --start-position and --stop-position to select specific events

With ROW format, the --verbose flag decodes row-level changes into commented pseudo-SQL format, otherwise the output is an unreadable binary blob.

What it’s for #

mysqlbinlog is used in two main scenarios:

• Point-in-time recovery: extracting and replaying events from backup to the desired moment, piping output directly into the mysql client
• Replication debugging: analysing events to understand what was replicated, identifying problematic transactions or reconstructing the sequence of operations that caused an issue

When to use it #

mysqlbinlog is essential whenever you need to inspect what happened in the database after an incident, or when performing a point-in-time recovery. It requires access to binlog files on the server filesystem or the ability to connect to the server with --read-from-remote-server.